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Krejza loses Tasmania contract

The former Test offspinner Jason Krejza faces an uncertain future after he was not offered a contract with Tasmania for the coming season

ESPNcricinfo staff
09-Apr-2013
Jason Krejza is without a state after being axed by Tasmania  •  Getty Images

Jason Krejza is without a state after being axed by Tasmania  •  Getty Images

The former Test offspinner Jason Krejza faces an uncertain future after he was not offered a contract with Tasmania for the coming season. The state contracting window opened last week and although the full squad is yet to be named, Cricket Tasmania has confirmed that Krejza and the allrounder Matt Johnston would not be part of the squad for next summer.
The decision means Krejza, 30, could be forced to move interstate in an effort to keep his first-class career alive after a disappointing 2012-13 with the ball. Although Krejza made a career-best 118 not out during the Sheffield Shield season and topped Tasmania's batting averages with 242 runs at 80.66, his primary role as a bowler did not bring enough rewards: he took only five wickets at 73.40 in four games.
It was the second consecutive below-par summer for Krejza, who in 2011-12 collected seven Shield wickets at 63.57. Although he burst on to the Test scene in 2008 with 12 wickets on debut against India in Nagpur, Krejza was dropped after one more Test and his first match in the baggy green remains the only first-class game in which he collected five wickets in an innings.
Overall, his first-class figures do not make impressive reading: in 54 appearances he has taken 114 wickets at 49.59. Although he was part of Australia's World Cup squad in 2011, Krejza has slipped considerably from international contention and has spent the past few seasons struggling to unseat Xavier Doherty as Tasmania's first-choice spinner.
Krejza joined Tasmania in 2006-07 after moving from New South Wales, while the allrounder Johnston was also an interstate import, having signed with the Tigers in 2011-12 after beginning his career with Western Australia. Johnston, 27, has been delisted after making limited appearances for Tasmania over the past couple of seasons.